Scariest moment on a bike?

[Rincewind]

I was pillion on a honda 750/4 in about 1972 when my pilot decided to get airbourne on a humpback bridge over a canal in Birmingham.
We landed on the wrong side of the white line over the crest with a vehicle approaching head on I felt a sharp stab in my right side and,when I looked down the pocket was missing from my belstaff jacket,something protruding from the car had dug in and ripped it off never to be seen again along with my keys and a rather nice sandwich I had just purchased for the journey !!!
I kept the jacket for years afterwards it was always a good coversation starter........but could have so easily been the start of a very different story !

[Manxman]

...Well f%$^ me! It fills like a sail, I am lifted in the air cluching on to the now over revving XS250 with all the strength in my arms and thighs concentrated on not getting sucked off the back.

Well f#$% me I never considered it might take the bike as well. We were carried back about two meters and slammed somewhat uncerremoniosly on the road, somehow upright but in slapper with the ute behind me in a fourwheel lock up.

bwahahaha...LMFAO....sooo funny!

[speeding_ant]

Travelling into palmy and a car swerved from their side of the road into mine. Doing 150km/h. Grabbed the brakes and chose the best path. Had to go on the other side of the road to miss her (by a matter of cms). The car didnt brake, crashed into the ditch and flipped into a paddock (through a fence). Stopped in a hurry and had to help her out. Turned out she was around 70 and fell asleep at the wheel. Realised i could have been coma toast and went out and bought better brakes and did a course.

Also had a 4x4 hit me head on, i stopped myself with my head on a croncrete poll. Scary moment, still have some short term memory loss.

Also power sliding up a hill after the back gave out in the rain. Gave her some throttle and stood up on the pegs. Eventually (felt like minutes) the back caught on again. Scary as there was a cliff on the other side!!

Countless other crazy cages trying to write my name in the history books. Have learnt to make sure you have control of all situations, defensive driving is the key! All of these situations have made me a better rider.

[sunhuntin]

had a few freaky moments. worst would be heading back into town from a short country blast. 100k zone, but it was after 9pm, so i was maybe doing 80k. had my light on full.
see lights coming towards me, so dip the beam. twin lights...then i see an identical pair behind them.
the second pair vanishes in a dip in the road, and then reappears ALONGSIDE the first car. racing, on my side of the road. i look at them, hit the brakes and stare desperately towards where the ditch would be.
after what seemed like a lifetime, the second lights pull back in behind the first, and they are gone.
im still on the brakes, and quickly knock out the gears, till im sitting, panting. shakily make my way home, the back wobbling the whole way. turned out to be my own terror that was doing that.
seriously considered hanging up the keys after that. all i remember thinking was "not again, and shit this is going to hurt!" fully expecting to be sent flying again.
went back the next day...there was a skid mark the same length as my bike.
damn good thing it wasnt raining, and that the car pulled back in, at the last second. this was not long after getting the 06 gn, and i was not looking forward to being put back in a cast. that time of night, with no cell phone, and no street lights, i could have been there a while.

with reguards to cell phones and petrol fumes...i try and discourage their use, the same as i do smoking. got given a filthy look a while back for telling a woman to stop tapping her ash onto my forecourt. have even seen one guy stop in the middle of a forecourt and light up. i was fully expecting everything to go BOOM, but it didnt.
that forecourt has a restaurant next door, and they also use gas cookers. not a very good mix.
there was a report late last year from the states a woman "exploded" after a spark from her clothing.
ever got an electric shock from your car or a shopping trolley? that could cause a spark and therefore, a fire.
when i was a kid, i had a winter night shirt. when the sleeves were scratched at hard and fast, and then quickly lifted off the skin, i could see the sparks dancing, like mini lightening bolts. i dont know what material it was, but its a wonder i didnt get burned. lol
i personally dont fill the bike while straddling it, but plently do. i dont bother mentioning it. i can see why they do it. my luck id get more on the tank than in it.

[jim.cox]

What's the most frightening situation you've ever been in while riding?

State Highway 6, coming north onto the one-way bridge at the Lindis River.

I was sure the road was clear, came round the corner onto the bridge and found a car. Locked the back wheel, got it back again and just had room to go down the side of the car, having clipped his radio aerial with my bar-end mirror.

I dont think we could have got any closer

And it was all my own fault

[KoroJ]

Some years back I was travelling from Chch to Picton on an XL250 with pack etc. Left in the rain & rode through sleet & snow over the Hundalees. By the time I got near the coast I was in a bit of a stupor and looking down at the road, noticed it was dry. I then noticed the white line cross below me and when I looked up I was entering the big Left hand Sweeper onto the coast with a VW coming the other way. (This corner drops away 2 or 3 metres to the rocks & sea, with no barriers...at least not then).

There was no concious thought involved and the only option was taken instinctively, to go round the VW, hanging out the tail in the gravel between road and precipice, speedway style. The look on the other drivers face was something to behold (I suppose mine too) and it sure woke me up. The after effects was a mix of cold sweat from being stroked by the hand of death and euphoria of pulling off an amazing stunt.

Don't know how I did it...wouldn't recommend it...couldn't do it again...I've got an awsome Guardian Angel and thank God for all the offroading we used to do.

[placidfemme]

Well my scariest moment was totally self inflicted I guess one could say.

Riding down South following a certain biker who was showing me the way because I'm unfamiliar with the roads and another close biker friend on his bike behind me...

Biker "A" ahead of me pulls out to overtake, being on a 1000cc bike the amount of time it takes to pull out, overtake and pull back in is just a matter of seconds... I'm right on her ass, gassing the lil 250 doing easily 160kph+. I check the road ahead, an oncoming car about 300m odd away. In top gear, throttle full open to "no more twist left", cage that we're overtaking accelerates, now I'm doing 180kph+ and too comitted to my manuvour (sp) to brake at those speeds and get back behind the cage before the oncoming vehicle is even with us.

Tucked myself into the smallest little thing possible on my bike, chin on the tank, gas full on... rear tyre bouncing off the cats eyes on the centre line and wossssshhhhhhh as oncoming cage passes.

All I saw was the mirror from the cage on the right barely miss my mirror and the driver of the oncoming cage giving me the bird with a very angry look on his face... he proberly would have laughed if he'd seen the "I'm going to shit myself" look on my face lol

Got to the gas station and the mate behind me lets me know I only had about 4cm spare on either side on the bike... scary shit... That freaked me out more than any of the other "close calls" I've had... infact it scared me more than when I wrote the bike off in 2005...

*is a LOT more careful when overtaking these days*

[Jimmy B]

The absolute scariest for me was off road, where I began riding. Just down the road from me in Napier was a decent area to fang dirt bikes, not the best but interesting enough with a river, a few Ks of gravel road aaaand a stop bank.

The golden rule of jumping stop banks is do not get caught, the local authorities take a very dim view, In fact so dim that I was forced to do a runner from one of the councils finest on me PE250. Rather than debate the ramifications of my actions I led him on a merry chase down the track until he got stuck and I could double back and gap it home.

I gave up riding in that area for a month, you know, to let the scene cool off a bit, however one sunny Hawke bay afternoon temptation got the better of me and I was off down the road in a puff of blue smoke.

I hit the first stop bank at around 60 into the sun on a nice angle so as to land atop in such a position as to lay a mingin patch before reversing the procedure. I had done many times before and had not a worry in the world.

When I hit the top this time, I got great air, really far more air than I’m used to as I appeared to be minus my bike. I fairly crapped my pants whilst sailing about 20 feet in the air at 60ish. That’s the last thing I remember about the flight, but I do recall the excruciating agony of coming around on the other side of the bank.

I took a moment and then crawled up the bank to find out where my bike had got to. I was amazed to behold the effectiveness of a 3 strand wire fence installed by the council during my absence. With strainer posts every 50 meters it was rendered invisible from my approach into the sun.

Took a while to untangle that lot and in hindsight it was pure Karma

[Brett]

[10 characters

[MVnut]

Scariest bike moment long long ago. I was giving my mate's very religious girlfriend a lift to his place when I was hit by a couple of wasps.......felt one go down my jacket & into my jeans !! Pulled over QUICKLY & pulled my pants off. She was still on the bike & I thought she was going to kill me

[Rincewind]

oh no not the old theres a wasp down my pants trick,does that still work Ha Ha

[MaxCannon]

Well given that high speed on a GN is out of the question so far the scariest whas been locking up the front wheel at about 40kph

Coming up to an intersection I was already off the throttle, car coming towards me makes an un-indicated turn into a driveway directly in front of me and totally oblivious to my presence.

Road was very wet, Jumped on the brakes and locked the front up for just a moment.
Got off the brakes as the bike started to tip and swerved around the back of the car.
This was before I got decent tyres and I was surprised just how easily the front locked.

Just how you don't see a bike with headlight on and the rider in dayglow "please don't hit me" attire I'll never know.

[sizzlingbadger]

my worst moment was years ago when the chain snapped on my FZR1000 at about 130mph it barrelled into the casings whipped round and removed the end of my boot (just missing my toes) and then broke the rear brake torque arm causing the rear wheel to lock. I managed to stay on the bike and let it skid to a stop. I have never been so shaken in my life and always look after my chain now.

[Jimmy B]

my worst moment was years ago when the chain snapped on my FZR1000 at about 130mph it barrelled into the casings whipped round and removed the end of my boot (just missing my toes) and then broke the rear brake torque arm causing the rear wheel to lock. I managed to stay on the bike and let it skid to a stop. I have never been so shaken in my life and always look after my chain now.

You win!!!!

[Oscar]

This was pretty scary...